10-day Israel-Lebanon truce begins as Lebanese army warns of 'violations'

The Cleveland Cavaliers, fueled by 32 points from Donovan Mitchell, beat the Toronto Raptors 126-113 on Saturday in their NBA playoff opener.

James Harden added a double-double of 22 points and 10 rebounds and Max Strus scored 24 points off the bench for Eastern Conference fourth seeds Cleveland, who will try to build on their advantage when they host game two of the best-of-seven series on Monday.

RJ Barrett scored 24 points for the Raptors, who never led after the opening minutes and trailed by as many as 24.

Mitchell has now scored at least 30 points in an NBA record nine straight playoff series openers.

"You see the focus," Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson said of Mitchell. "How he just gets more locked-in than ever. The goal for him now is to sustain, whatever that looks like, however many games we go, now it's sustaining and keeping that consistency."

Three other series opened Saturday. The East's third-seeded Knicks host the Atlanta Hawks while in the West Nikola Jokic's third-seeded Denver Nuggets host the Minnesota Timberwolves and the fourth-seeded Los Angeles Lakers host the Houston Rockets.

The Lakers and Rockets series pits Lakers superstar LeBron James against an old rival in Houston's Kevin Durant.

But James is shouldering a heavy load with league-leading scorer Luka Doncic and teammate Austin Reaves sidelined indefinitely in the wake of late season injuries.

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Pope Leo XIV lamented that his trip to Africa had been marked by a war of words with US President Donald Trump as he arrived in Angola on Saturday on the third leg of the tour.

In the capital Luanda, he travelled in his popemobile to meet President Joao Lourenco, with hundreds of cheering and waving people lining the route.

Leo flew into the oil-rich country from Cameroon, where he ended his visit with a huge public mass.

On the plane over, he told journalists that he regretted that remarks he had made during his tour had been interpreted as a response to criticism from Trump, insisting he had no interest in debating the US leader.

He cited a speech about "tyrants" ransacking the world that he delivered in Cameroon on Thursday on the second leg of the trip, saying that the remarks had been written well before Trump's "comment on myself and on the message of peace that I am promoting."

"And yet it was perceived as if I were trying to start a new debate with the president, which doesn't interest me at all," Leo said.

Leo had blasted "tyrants" while on a high-security visit to Cameroon's northwestern city of Bamenda, the epicentre of a nearly decade-long English-speaking separatist insurgency that has killed thousands. 

The remarks were interpreted by the US media in particular as a reference to Trump.

But Leo insisted that "there's been a certain narrative that has not been accurate in all of its aspects".

Trump had said on April 12 he was "not a big fan of Pope Leo", and accused his fellow American of "toying with a country (Iran) that wants a nuclear weapon".

- Dissent, exploitation -

Throughout his 11-day four-nation Africa visit, which started in Algeria, the pope has delivered pointed warnings against corruption, the plunder of the continent's resources and the dangers of artificial intelligence. 

In Luanda, he condemned the "social and environmental disasters" caused by material exploitation.

"How much suffering, how many deaths, how many social and environmental disasters are caused by this logic of exploitation," he said in an address to officials including President Joao Lourenco.

Angola is one of Africa's top producers of crude oil and is also rich in resources like diamonds but inequality is stark as much of the wealth does not filter down to ordinary people.

Around a third of the largely young population of 36.6 million people lives below the international poverty line of $2.15 per day, according to the World Bank.

Leo also urged authorities to "not be afraid of dissent".

Authorities in the country, ruled by Lourenco's socialist MPLA party since independence in 1975, have been accused of stifling freedom of expression including through heavy-handed responses to demonstrations.

Poverty was partly blamed for a three-day looting spree during a strike against fuel hikes in July last year when around 30 people were killed in a police crackdown that was criticised by rights groups. Hundreds of people were jailed.

Leo is the third pontiff to visit the country, where around 44 percent of the population is Catholic, after John Paul II in 1992 and Benedict XVI in 2009.

"There is a lot of suffering, a lot of poverty in Angola. I hope the pope will see with his own eyes the needs of the youth here," said Antonio Masaidi, a 33-year-old engineer.

On Sunday, Leo will celebrate a giant open-air mass in Kilamba on Luanda's outskirts.

In the afternoon, he will travel by helicopter to the village of Muxima, about 130 kilometres (80 miles) southeast of Luanda, home to a 16th-century church that has become one of southern Africa's most important pilgrimage sites.

On April 20, he is due to travel more than 800 kilometres from the capital to visit a retirement home in Saurimo and celebrate another mass before departing the following morning for Equatorial Guinea.

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Five people were killed in Kyiv on Saturday after a gunman opened fire and took hostages at a supermarket in the Ukrainian capital before being killed during an arrest attempt, officials said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that at least 10 people were hospitalised with wounds and trauma after the shooting, which took place in a residential district in the city's south.

Footage posted by the UNIAN news agency, which AFP was unable to immediately verify, showed a man carrying a gun and shooting at a person from close range near a block of flats.

The suspect then entered a supermarket where gunshots were heard, Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said. Four hostages from the supermarket "have been rescued", Zelensky said later on social media.

"The attacker in Kyiv who opened fire on civilians has been eliminated," Zelensky said, offering condolences to the families of the victims.

An AFP reporter saw the supermarket -- which had blood stains on its shop window -- cordoned off by a heavy security presence, with officers wearing bulletproof vests and crime investigators arriving at the scene.

The assailant's motive was not immediately known.

- 40-minute standoff -

Ukrainian Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko said the suspect was a 58-year-old man born in Moscow and that according to initial reports, "he used an automatic weapon".

An employee of the supermarket, Tetyana, told AFP that she had heard sounds "in the store, like champagne being popped or balloons bursting several times. Then the customers started shouting, 'Run!'".

"There's a spot where you can hide behind the refrigerators, and we ran there. I heard a man moaning," she recounted, her voice trembling.

Zelensky urged "a swift investigation" into the shooting and said that all the circumstances of the incident were being established.

Ukrainian Interior Minister Igor Klymenko said the standoff between the assailant and police negotiators at the supermarket lasted around 40 minutes.

"We tried to persuade him. Realising that there was likely an injured person inside, we offered to bring in tourniquets to stop the bleeding... But he didn't respond," Klymenko told reporters at the scene. 

"That's why the order was given to eliminate him," he added, saying that the gunman had killed one of the people taken hostage.

Ukraine, which has been fighting a more than four-year-long war with Russia, has seen sporadic shooting incidents but has a relatively low crime rate.

Last year, a man shot dead two people in a Kyiv suburb in a dispute over the sale of a firearm.

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US President Donald Trump on Saturday announced an easing of restrictions on research into psychedelic drugs -- such as so-called "magic mushrooms" -- that have shown promise in treating people with mental health conditions.

Flanked by US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr, top medical officials and podcaster Joe Rogan, who has pushed for access to the drugs, Trump signed an executive order that would help federal researchers cut through the red tape to allow for quicker studies.

The president said the order would "clear away unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles, improve data sharing among the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) and the Department of Veterans Affairs and facilitate fast rescheduling of any psychedelic drugs that become FDA approved."

Currently, many psychedelics including LSD and psilocybin ("magic mushrooms") are classified -- or "scheduled" -- as having high abuse and addiction potential, and are not approved for medical use, limiting the ability for scientists to study them.

If the FDA, which is charged with regulating pharmaceuticals in the United States, officially finds a medical benefit for some of the psychedelics, they could be rescheduled, allowing for greater clinical use.

The order only provides for accelerated research and does not immediately require law enforcement authorities to reclassify the drugs, meaning therapeutic use will not expand immediately.

In recent years, there has been a growing push to research the effects of the drugs in treating people -- especially war veterans -- with difficult anxiety and depression cases, especially those who had experienced traumatic stress.

Many veterans and other patients have complained that traditional antidepressant cocktails not only fail to work but change their personalities in ways that alienate them from their friends and family.

In 2023, 6,398 veterans took their own lives, the Department of Veterans Affairs said. 

During the signing ceremony at the White House, Trump pointed to one drug called ibogaine, claiming patients who had taken it "experienced an 80 to 90 percent reduction in symptoms of depression and anxiety within one month."

"Can I have some, please?" he joked.

The full extent of the benefits and potential side effects of psychedelic medications is not yet known, since research has been restricted. 

While many are thought to show promising mental health benefits, there are risks. Ibogaine, for instance, is thought to potentially damage the heart.

If you are a US veteran in need of help, or concerned about one, you can dial 988 and press 1, or visit www.veteranscrisisline.net.

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Thousands of people demonstrated across Germany on Saturday, urging a faster shift to renewable energy and accusing conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz's coalition of putting the brakes on the transition.

In Berlin, Cologne, Hamburg and Munich, crowds took to the streets waving placards emblazoned with slogans including "renewables are our life" and "escape the fossil fuel trap". 

A coalition of campaign groups organising the demonstrations said about 80,000 people took part nationwide, although police gave lower figures.

"The war in Iran and exploding energy prices make it very clear once again that we need to free ourselves from fossil fuels as quickly as possible," Christoph Bautz from campaign group Campact, which helped organise the protests, told AFP at the Berlin demonstration.

He claimed that Economy Minister Katherina Reiche, from Merz's centre-right CDU party, was seeking to slow down the shift to renewables, which he said is "completely out of touch with the times and serves only the oil and gas industry".

Merz's coalition, and in particular Reiche -- a former energy company executive -- have come under fire over various policies, including support for watering down EU-wide car emissions rules and their plans to build more gas-fired power plants.

The chancellor argues steps need to be taken to relieve the burdens on Germany's struggling manufacturers, and help revive Europe's biggest economy whose heavy industry has suffered from high energy costs. 

While Germany has greatly expanded solar and wind power, with most of the country's electricity now provided by renewables, the new government's actions have fuelled fears it will miss its ambitious climate targets.

Luisa Neubauer, a leading figure in the Fridays for Future movement in Germany, told AFP at the Berlin demonstration that she was "positively surprised" by how many people had turned up. 

"I'm surprised that the federal government thinks it can get away with its lame excuses and its obstruction of the energy transition," she said. "No one here is buying that."

The organisers, who included groups like Greenpeace and WWF, said about 24,000 people demonstrated in Berlin, 30,000 in Cologne, 15,000 in Hamburg and 12,000 in Munich.

Police in Berlin gave an initial estimate of 9,000, and in Cologne 4,500.

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Pope Leo XIV said Saturday he regretted remarks he made were interpreted as a response to criticism from President Donald Trump, insisting he had no interest in debating the US leader.

An example was a speech about "tyrants" ransacking the world that he delivered in Cameroon on Thursday on the second leg of a tour of Africa, Leo told journalists as he travelled to Angola.

The remarks had been written well before Trump's "comment on myself and on the message of peace that I am promoting," he said.

"And yet it was perceived as if I were trying to start a new debate with the president, which doesn't interest me at all," Leo said.

"Much of what has been written since then has been more commentary on commentary trying to interpret what has been said," he said.

Leo had blasted "tyrants" ransacking the world on Thursday while on a high-security visit to Cameroon's northwestern city of Bamenda, the epicentre of a nearly decade-long English-speaking separatist insurgency that has killed thousands. 

The remarks were interpreted by the US media in particular as a reference to Trump.

But they were written well before Trump's criticisms, Leo said, adding "there's been a certain narrative that has not been accurate in all of its aspects".

Trump had said on April 12 he was "not a big fan of Pope Leo", and accused him of "toying with a country (Iran) that wants a nuclear weapon".

He later doubled down on his comments to reporters with a post on Truth Social, saying: "I don't want a Pope who thinks it's OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon."

"Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy," the US leader said.

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(The Center Square) — Homelessness is predicted to rise, while policies predicted to lower the homeless numbers only address part of the cause, according to analysts. 

The annual Point-In-Time (PIT) count, conducted by the Continuums of Care for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), is a once‑a‑year estimate nationwide of the number of people experiencing homelessness, both sheltered and unsheltered, and provides insight into whether homelessness is on the rise or decline.

“It’s an imperfect measure,” Ryan Orsinger, director of Data Science and Research at Haven for Hope, told The Center Square. “If you get 100 volunteers in San Antonio one year, and you get a count, and then the next year you get 200 volunteers and they’re just all geared up, you could actually have a change in the measurement not based on the number of human beings who are actually experiencing homelessness, just because of measurement variance.” 

Weather, volunteer engagement, and other factors influence the PIT count, leading to fluctuations in data and unreliable results. According to Orsinger, HUD is exploring ways to revamp the PIT count, potentially collecting more counts throughout the year to provide more accurate data. 

The full 2025 PIT count numbers have not yet officially been released, though the 2024 PIT count showed the highest level of homelessness on a single night on record, with 771,480 people recorded homeless. While awaiting the 2025 PIT count national results, some states and districts' results have been released. 

The D.C. metropolitan area PIT count recorded 9,659 people as homeless in January 2025, which is only 1% lower than 2024’s count but still higher than before the COVID-19 pandemic. Given the 1% decrease in the region and the PIT count occurring on only one night a year, the decrease is not truly significant. 

“If we’re looking at a 1% difference on people, and there’s a variance of 1%, I’m not going to take that as good news or bad news if it goes up or down, because that's a pretty reasonable measurement error, at least nationally,” Orsinger said. “Once you get above like 5–6% variance, then you’re getting to the real story, especially on a national figure.”

Tens of billions of taxpayer dollars have been spent on homelessness programs in hopes of reducing homelessness as a whole, with some programs having significantly more success than others.

On July 24, 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order revoking the housing-first policy and labeling homelessness primarily as a public safety and mental health crisis, arguing drug addiction and serious mental illness as the main cause of homelessness, and redirected federal homelessness policy toward law enforcement, involuntary treatment and stricter funding conditions. 

Trump’s executive order was an attempt to address the root causes of homelessness using a treatment-first initiative, in hopes that taxpayer money no longer continues to fund programs deemed ineffective. Still, many homeless advocates and critics expressed displeasure with the executive order and current policy. 

“The Trump administration has done everything in its power to target, attack, and punish people experiencing homelessness, from attempting to slash critical funding for housing to promoting an anti-homeless agenda based on myths and stereotypes,” the National Homelessness Law Center told The Center Square. “Trump’s policies have made homelessness worse, have made more people hungry and sick, and will leave us all less safe.”

Though PIT count numbers are not fully out yet for 2025 or 2026, there is concern among shelters that the current policy will not decrease homelessness numbers any more than previous attempts, since addressing mental health and addiction only addresses two causes. The rise of insurance and housing costs has prevented individuals and families of both older and younger generations from being able to sell, rent or purchase housing. 

Rep. Beth Van Duyne, R-Texas, addressed property inflation at a panel hosted by The Daily Caller, saying how people were leaving higher inflation areas for cheaper housing in other states and driving up prices in those areas.

“It's a reason not to sell it, and so you got a ton of people who are in houses that they don't need to be in right now,” said Van Duyne. “Rising families want to be able to purchase, so helping them by not having to pay the inflationary costs on that is, actually, it’s just common sense.”

“People have seen rates double, triple, sometimes even more than that, and it's causing our housing prices to be even more severe,” said U.S. Rep. Lindsay Cross, D-Fla.

“We're creating a situation where if you can't insure it, you can't own it, and if you can't own it, you can't live or rent there,” U.S. Sen. Jamaal Bailey, D-N.Y., said. “We're adding to the housing crisis by not staying on top of insurance costs.”

According to HUD, Trump’s executive order to lower the cost of housing ensured the “income needed to buy a home is down four percent and mortgage affordability is at a four-year high” as of the 2026 State of the Union, with “existing home sales increased more than 5% in December 2025.” The executive crackdown on fraud and deportations may also help increase housing availability.

This gradual improvement in affordability may spark hope for some citizens, leading to a potential decline in homelessness, but the shift toward a housing-first policy over a treatment-first policy still raises concern. 

“It misapplies that policy solution if somebody’s issue is just economic in nature,” Orsinger said. “It’s tricky. In both cases, it’s a misapplication of a single intervention to an entire population of people who are different.”

“We used to have massive mental health institutions in this country, just like we used to condition housing on jumping through impossible hoops. We don’t do those things anymore because we learned they didn’t work and that they caused real harm,” the National Homelessness Law Center told The Center Square. “We already know what works to solve homelessness: it’s getting people the housing they can afford and the health care they need.”

HUD said Trump’s executive order to lower housing costs resulted in the “income needed to buy a home is down four percent and mortgage affordability is at a four-year high,” and is providing some relief to housing costs.

“At a time when more and more people are one missed paycheck away from homelessness, politicians must make sure that everybody has a safe place to call home,” the National Homelessness Law Center told The Center Square. “The good news is that there are real ways to do this, things like using empty government-owned buildings to build deeply affordable housing and expand rent control and rental assistance.” 

Terri Behling, director of communications at Haven for Hope, told The Center Square that the true solution to ending homelessness is addressing each individual person where they are, without treating each person as if they all have the same problems, and it takes both public and private partnerships to accomplish this.

“It’s investing in preventative measures, more affordable housing, more shelter services, more resources in general,” Behling said. “I would hope that those who do make policy would look at it as a whole and not just look at one solution, because homelessness, just like health care, is super complex, and so it affects everyone differently.”

Haven for Hope is one example of private and public partnerships working together to meet the needs of struggling individuals where they are, providing an array of programs in what Haven for Hope calls a “one-stop shop,” and successfully helping homeless people get back on their feet. However, funding and coordination for such campuses are not standard.

“This policy of Housing First also defunded shelters across the United States. That’s why you don’t see a Haven in every city,” Orsinger said. “All those federal dollars went somewhere else.”

Not all attempts to create shelter campuses have received support, as seen with the proposed Salt Lake City shelter facility, which the National Homelessness Law Center and other critics protested against. This was not the only attempt at a shelter that has not been successful.

“There was an outfit from Albuquerque who came and they wanted to replicate the idea of a one‑stop shop, but their physical facility is 21 miles outside of town in an old prison,” Orsinger said. “You can’t just shove human beings to the edge of town and expect them to resolve all of their challenges with being displaced in the first place.”

Not all solutions work, but attempts are steps in the right direction. 

“Homelessness can happen to anyone and it doesn’t discriminate,” Behling said. “Understand the complexities, look at the research, and make decisions informed by data and talking to people with lived experience and talking to the providers in the country.”

The next PIT count results are expected between May and July 2026, which are predicted to show an increase in homelessness despite current policy efforts. 

A handful of oil and gas tankers crossed the Hormuz Strait Saturday during a brief reopening, tracking data showed, but others retreated and two were reportedly attacked as Iran closed the route again.

Iran reversed its pledge to reopen the strait to commercial traffic during a ceasefire in the Middle East war in protest at an ongoing US counter-blockade of the route, a crucial passage for commodity shipments.

During the reopening, at least eight oil and gas tankers crossed the strait early Saturday after the Iranian announcement on Friday afternoon, data from tracking firm Kpler indicated.

However tracking platform MarineTraffic showed several other crude oil tankers approached the strait but then turned back near Iran's Larak Island, a checkpoint for vessels seeking to exit the Gulf under Iranian forces' blockade of the passage.

Four French-owned container ships bearing the name of major shipping firm CMA CGM also made U-turns in the strait on Saturday around 1000 GMT after starting to exit, the platform indicated.

Gunboats of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corp fired on a tanker in the strait northeast of Oman, the UK Maritime Trade Operations Centre (UKMTO) said in an online statement.

"Tanker and crew are reported safe. Authorities are investigating."

The UKMTO said later that it also received a report of a container ship in the same area "being hit by an unknown projectile which caused damage to some of the containers" but no fire.

Around a fifth of the world's oil and liquified natural gas pass the strait in peacetime but traffic through the route came to a near-standstill after the war erupted on February 28 with US and Israeli strikes on Iran.

- Iran tightens control -

Iran's central military command on Saturday appeared to reverse the decision to reopen the route, saying it would resume "strict management" of the strait because of the continued US naval counter-blockade.

Iranian forces' closure of the strait has trapped hundreds of ships in the Gulf and driven up the price of oil and the costs of shipping goods, with captains avoiding the region for fear of attacks or mines.

At least three of the vessels tracked exiting via the strait on Saturday were listed as being under US sanctions.

MarineTraffic indicated that a cruise ship, the Celestyal Discovery, became the first passenger vessel to transit the strait since the start of the conflict.

It crossed close to the coast of Oman on Friday afternoon after having been docked for about 47 days in the United Arab Emirates.

"Reports indicate the vessel is sailing without passengers," Marine Traffic said in a post on X.

At least two other passenger ships showed up on the tracking platform passing the strait close to Oman on Saturday.

- Shippers wary -

The shipping industry had reacted guardedly to the reopening on Friday.

"The status of mine threats in (Iran's maritime) traffic separation scheme is unclear," Jakob Larsen, chief security officer of major shipping association BIMCO, said in a statement emailed to AFP.

"BIMCO believes shipping companies should consider avoiding the area."

Shipping analysis firm AXSMarine estimated in a note Saturday that there were currently about 108 to 116 million barrels of crude oil held on vessels at sea in the Gulf.

It estimated that load could transit the strait within six to eight days following a full reopening, but shipments would take several weeks to reach key markets in Asia.

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(The Center Square) – Less than 24 hours after Iran and President Donald Trump touted the Strait of Hormuz open, the Islamic Republic has reportedly reversed course, closing the vital waterway.

In addition to closing the waterway early Saturday, at least two commercial ships have reportedly been struck by gunfire while attempting to pass through the strait.

Iran confirmed the closure, saying it would remain closed until the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports is lifted.

When Iran announced the reopening of the strait Friday morning, it credited the ceasefire in Lebanon with Israel, giving no indication they would reverse the deal if the naval blockade remained in effect.

“In line with the ceasefire in Lebanon, the passage for all commercial vessels through Strait of Hormuz is declared completely open for the remaining period of ceasefire, on the coordinated route already announced by Ports and Maritime Organization of the Islamic Rep. of Iran,” according to a statement from Iran.

Trump spoke to reporters Friday night while returning to Washington, saying he may not extend the ceasefire with Iran set to expire Wednesday, adding the U.S. may have “to start dropping bombs again.”

The president underscored the U.S. has “been pushed around by Iran for 47 years, but not anymore.”

Earlier on Friday, Trump appeared optimistic the two countries were close to a deal, saying Iran had agreed to give up its “nuclear dust.”

The president indicated that talks in Pakistan may resume over the weekend after Vice President JD Vance failed to produce a deal last weekend. The White House has yet to announce a second round of talks; however, Trump has said he has been in direct contact with Iranian officials.

On Monday, Trump announced a total blockade of Iranian ports in an effort to squeeze the regime economically.

In a second Truth Social post Friday morning, the president confirmed the naval blockade on Iran remains in effect "until such time as our transaction with Iran is 100% complete."

A French soldier was killed and three others wounded in an attack Saturday on UN peacekeepers in Lebanon that appeared to have been carried out by Hezbollah, French President Emmanuel Macron said.

"Everything points to Hezbollah being responsible for this attack," he said on X, urging Lebanese authorities to arrest the perpetrators.

Israel and Lebanon agreed to a 10-day ceasefire on Thursday in order to negotiate an end to six weeks of war between Israel and the Iran-backed group Hezbollah.

The fighting in Lebanon -- one of the fronts in the Middle East war -- has seen the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) deployed there repeatedly targeted, by both Israeli and Hezbollah forces.

The peacekeeper killed, identified as staff sergeant Florian Montorio, was caught in an "ambush" as his unit headed to a UNIFIL outpost and he died from a "direct gunshot", France's armed forces minister Catherine Vautrin said on X.

She said the outpost they had been heading to had been "cut off for several days by combat in the area". 

The ambush was carried out "by an armed group at very close range", she said.

Vautrin added that Montorio was "picked up by his comrades under fire" but they were unable to resuscitate him.

- Possible 'war crimes' -

Macron's office said he held calls with Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun and Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam to urge them to "guarantee the security of UNIFIL soldiers".

Aoun condemned the attack and pledged to bring those responsible to justice, while Salam said he had ordered an investigation.

UNIFIL, in an online statement, said the peacekeepers "came under small-arms fire from non-state-actors" as they were "clearing explosive ordnance along a road in the village of Ghanduriyah" to get to the outpost.

"Tragically, one peacekeeper succumbed to his injuries and three others were injured, two of them seriously," it said.

Its initial assessment indicates the incoming fire was "allegedly Hezbollah", it said, adding that it had launched its own investigation into what "may amount to war crimes".

UNIFIL patrols in south Lebanon near the Israeli border where Israel and Hezbollah have been fighting since last month after the Iran-backed militant group drew Lebanon into the Middle East war with rocket fire at Israel in support of its backer Iran.

Three Indonesian peacekeepers were killed last month, with a preliminary UN investigation finding one was killed by Israeli tank fire, while the two others were killed by an improvised explosive device likely planted by Hezbollah.

Other UNIFIL peacekeepers have also been wounded since the war erupted, and in April, Israeli soldiers destroyed surveillance cameras in UNIFIL's headquarters, the peacekeeping body said.

Last week, an Israeli tank twice rammed peacekeeping vehicles, causing damage but no injuries, according to UNIFIL.

United Nations peacekeepers have served as a buffer between Lebanon and Israel for decades, but their mandate concludes at the end of this year.

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